After registering with the law enforcement disciples, Su Yi and Gongsun Lin took Tantai Yunzhi directly to the core area of Divine Might Manor—the Council Hall.
There was no escaping this. On the roster, Tantai Yunzhi was not only the champion, but she also possessed an innate Five Elements Dao Physique assessed at Grade A-Upper. Before laying eyes on her physical defect, the Elders would likely have fought tooth and nail to take her in as a personal disciple.
There were two purposes in coming here.
First was the matter of the champion, which had to be reported.
Second, since they were already here, he wanted to see if Su Jing and the Elders could step in and resolve Tantai Yunzhi’s physique issue.
Back when Su Yi played the game, he had skipped all the cutscenes and dialogue, so he had no idea how the female lead resolved it; he could only take things one step at a time.
The three walked in solemn silence along the way. As they stepped into the grand hall, the dim lighting cast a grave, imposing atmosphere.
The figures of Manor Lord Su Jing and several core Elders were not physically present; instead, they sat upon high seats as projections condensed from spiritual power, their oppressive auras permeating the hall.
Of course, apart from Su Jing, the other Elders’ faces were obscured, revealing only ghostly silhouettes.
It had been the exact same when Su Yi played the game—the Elders’ character models didn’t appear until later updates.
As for why...
Don’t ask. While planners of similar games merely blew smoke, this dev team had genuinely put in the work. Even so, if you asked, the answer was simply that the studio lacked the production capacity back then.
“Father, Elders,” Su Yi stepped forward and bowed respectfully.
Upon the elevated dais, the gaze of Manor Lord Su Jing’s projection was sharp as lightning, sweeping across the space to fix upon Tantai Yunzhi standing quietly in the center of the hall.
In private, he could bicker with Su Yi, but in this hall, he was the Manor Lord of Divine Might Manor—the true master in charge!
“We have already received word from the law enforcement disciples. Is this young woman the champion?” a female Elder asked.
“She is, but...”
Before Su Yi could finish, the Elder’s gaze seemed to pierce through flesh and bone, peering straight into Tantai Yunzhi’s origin.
Shock washed over her first, yet only a moment later, she slowly shook her head, her voice steady yet carrying an indisputable finality: “An innate Dao physique beyond doubt. The Five Elements circulate, and the depth of her foundation is truly rare.”
“However, the Yin-cold, deathly aura within her has entangled deeply with her Dao physique’s origin, clinging like rot to the bone. It cannot be healed by medicines or herbs, nor can it be resolved by ordinary spiritual energy. This is a flaw in the Great Dao, a wound inflicted by the Heavenly Dao.”
No sooner had the female Elder spoken than a slender Elder beside her chimed in: “Precisely. Though I have not made direct contact, I can sense that this aura is not merely freezing cold, but also carries an ominous hint of corroding the origin—it is downright insidious!”
“Su Yi, as the Young Manor Lord, you were rather hasty in recruiting disciples.”
“I heard that there was an Extreme Flame spirit root at the gathering. Compared to this girl, that candidate would have been far better suited for our Divine Might Manor.”
Displeasure laced his tone, though he refrained from being overly harsh.
Su Yi understood his point. Had he brought back a genuine prodigy, the Elder would not have said a word. But picking up a sesame seed while casting aside a watermelon had clearly turned the spearhead of criticism toward him.
There were rules to choosing disciples. Having chosen Tantai Yunzhi first, he could not step forward to select anyone else; after all, this was an unspoken agreement among the four great sects.
Thus, in this Elder’s eyes, Su Yi had squandered their selection privilege on a defective good—and one that might even bring harm to the sect.
At this point, another Elder concurred sternly: “Indeed! Our Divine Might Manor’s lightning arts are upright and noble, supremely Yang and unyielding, completely incompatible with such an obscure aura. Keeping this girl in the manor will do her no good, and it could very well bring harm to the manor!”
Faced with the Elders’ successive interrogations, Su Jing’s scrutinizing gaze also settled upon Su Yi.
He was waiting to hear Su Yi’s thoughts. This was the tacit understanding between father and son. In his eyes, Su Yi lacked worldly experience, and he had no idea what weight this young woman held in his son’s heart. As a father, he chose to respect his only son’s choice.
If Su Yi’s words indicated a desire to protect Tantai Yunzhi, he would grant it; if Su Yi implied that Tantai Yunzhi had bewitched or deceived him, then tough luck—Su Jing hadn’t attained this position only to watch his son be used.
As for Su Yi, seeing that Su Jing was in no rush to speak, twenty years of being born transmigrated into this father-son relationship allowed him to instantly read his father’s hint.
What else was there to say? This was Divine Might Manor, and his father was the Manor Lord!
Still, he knew Divine Might Manor was not a monolith.
If he didn’t make his protection obvious enough right now and let people think he had brought Tantai Yunzhi along on a mere whim, then narrow-minded individuals might cause trouble. They wouldn’t dare provoke Su Yi or Su Jing, but targeting an unsupported Tantai Yunzhi would be all too easy, wouldn’t it?
Moreover, she was already an uncertain element and extremely easy to target when it came to sect resources. In the long run, simply telling the truth might farm some goodwill from the female lead on the surface, but it would only plunge Tantai Yunzhi into an even more awkward and precarious position down the line, perhaps even solidifying the accusation of “bringing in a hidden threat.”
Her favorable impression wasn’t important to him; what mattered was that the female lead didn’t go astray and grew strong as quickly as possible. Every day earlier she matured meant significantly fewer casualties in the apocalyptic ending.
Since that was the case, he could only throw himself under the bus.
In the spark of a flint, Su Yi made his decision. His face instantly shifted to an expression blending anxiety, reluctance, and a touch of “recklessness.” Stepping forward, he pleaded in an urgent tone: “Father! Elders! This child knows his mistake! It’s just... it’s just that at the Ascendance Gathering, when I saw this woman seize the championship with such shocking, world-defying talent...”
“...I was solely focused on recruiting an unprecedented genius for Divine Might Manor to bolster our prestige, and in that moment, the title of ‘champion’ went straight to my head!”
“Yet what’s done is done. The other three sects are well aware that Tantai Yunzhi was taken in by Divine Might Manor. If we cast her out now, Divine Might Manor will surely become a laughingstock. Landing us in this dilemma is entirely due to my eagerness for quick success and careless negligence! I beg Father and the Elders to punish me!”
With these words, he cleverly painted himself as a Young Manor Lord who had been blinded by the glory of a “champion” and made a rash blunder out of an overeager desire for talent. By shouldering all the blame, he also drove home the underlying point: Tantai Yunzhi could not be cast out now, or Divine Might Manor would be reduced to a laughingstock.
Standing behind him, Gongsun Lin’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief as she stared at Su Yi’s back. She clearly remembered that Su Yi had stepped forward right when anomalies appeared during Tantai Yunzhi’s spirit testing, while she was being subjected to cold disdain—back when the contest for champion hadn’t even begun! Had any of the other three sects spared Tantai Yunzhi a second glance back then?!
He was clearly the only person who had reached out a helping hand to Tantai Yunzhi when everyone else looked down on her!
‘What is Senior Brother doing? Right now, all he needs to do is tell the truth. Out of respect for the Manor Lord, how could the Elders possibly punish him? Why is he taking the blame upon himself?!’
Tantai Yunzhi’s delicate frame trembled even more. She abruptly lifted her head, her clear blue eyes fixing intently on Su Yi’s back as her nails dug deep into her palms.
She knew better than anyone that Su Yi had extended an olive branch when she was at rock bottom, completely divorced from any halo of being “champion.” His current narrative—twisting black and white and smearing his own name—was solely to protect her and prevent her from being expelled from Divine Might Manor. Such shielding went so far as to disregard his own reputation!
‘Senior Brother...’ Gongsun Lin’s heart was in turmoil. Usually gentle toward her juniors, she suddenly found herself harboring a flicker of resentment toward this Tantai Yunzhi, who had stirred up trouble the moment she arrived.
Upon the dais, Su Jing watched his son “hastily admitting fault,” a flicker of complex emotion passing through his eyes. How could he fail to perceive Su Yi’s intention of willingly taking the punishment?
Originally, he had intended to emphasize that Su Yi was acting for the good of the sect and let him off without punishment; after all, recruiting a disciple was hardly a crime.
Yet by voluntarily taking the blame, Su Yi was sending a signal to the other Elders that he placed great importance on Tantai Yunzhi—enough to suffer punishment on her behalf.
‘All for a Tantai Yunzhi? Just for a Tantai Yunzhi, he wants to be her backer?’ Su Jing’s brows furrowed. In his eyes, this matter was just as baffling as when Su Yi had chosen to rebuild his cultivation from scratch back then.
However, since Su Yi had shouldered the blame and provided a way out, he, as the Manor Lord, had to render a verdict.
After a moment of silence, Su Jing said in a deep voice: “Since you recognize your fault, in consideration that your initial intention was for the sect, your reckless conduct nevertheless cannot go unpunished. You are sentenced to face the wall at Repentance Cliff for one month to reflect upon your errors, receiving three lashes of the whip each day. Without my written order, you are not permitted to leave!”
“Yes, this child accepts the punishment.” Su Yi lowered his head, inwardly breathing a sigh of relief. One month of wall-facing and whipping was not overly harsh.
Su Jing’s gaze shifted to Tantai Yunzhi, his tone indifferent: “As for this girl... since she has entered the manor and possesses a Dao physique, we cannot dismiss her, lest others make a laughingstock of us.”
“Could it be that our magnificent Divine Might Manor cannot even accommodate a single disciple? If that were so, we might as well abandon the Dao and retreat to the mountains!”
His words were stern, conveying to all that Divine Might Manor provided education without discrimination. The other Elders could say nothing further. Even though Tantai Yunzhi was now someone the Young Manor Lord was protecting, none of them would willingly take her in.
This effectively placed Tantai Yunzhi in an extremely awkward position: possessing the title of an inner sect disciple in name only, yet having no master or peak to belong to, with limited resources and an uncertain future.
“This disciple... understands,” Tantai Yunzhi replied in a low voice, an imperceptible tremble in her tone.
This was gratitude toward both Su Yi and Su Jing. In just a few short days, Su Yi had treated her far better than the so-called family members of her own clan ever had.
The council concluded, and the Elders’ projections dissipated.
Su Yi turned around, meeting Tantai Yunzhi’s blue eyes filled with complex emotions and unsaid words, as well as Gongsun Lin’s reproachful yet worried gaze.
He forced a relaxed smile and rubbed his nose. “One month. Seems like I got off light.”
“You certainly did! They should have punished that mouth of yours first, so you could never utter another word to bring trouble upon yourself!” Gongsun Lin glared at him fiercely as she spoke.
Before they could say much more, the law enforcement disciple who arrived to guide him led Su Yi away toward Repentance Cliff.
Leaving Gongsun Lin and Tantai Yunzhi behind where they stood, watching his departing back, tumultuous waves stirred in their hearts that refused to calm.
Especially Tantai Yunzhi. Though she had remained silent ever since entering the hall, she felt that on her future path of cultivation, she would likely never be able to forget this person.
‘Senior Brother Su has shown me such kindness... How can Yunzhi ever repay it...’
Rate on N.U.
